Diana Group

These 12 hard-working women belong to a Tribal community. In 2010 they formed a group and called themselves the “Diana Group”. They all live in a small remote town called Saikul which is in the state of Manipur in the North Eastern part of India. It is about 70 km in distance from the main capital, Imphal.

Themneo, one of the 12 members, is pictured with raised hand. She is 28 years old and is a mother to two sons and one daughter. All her children go to a private school in the town. Her husband is a cultivator by profession and the breadearner of the family. She helped her husband cultivating rice on leased land. That could never sustain them from buying rice while waiting for the next harvest, because the share of the harvest is one-third of the produce, which is to say that the owner of the paddy field gets double the share of the cultivator. In order to supplement the family income, Themneo decided to start weaving, the only activity she is good at. In fact, she started weaving at the early age of 16.

With her first loan she bought yarns and started her weaving activities. She wove traditional shawls called “Saipikhup” and wrap-round skirts called “Khamtang” and it takes about 6 days to finish each respectively. During the cultivation seasons she would schedule her time: three days for weaving and helping her husband in the field for two days. She actually made more progress with her business than she had imagined. Without much effort she was able to repay her loan and save money for household maintenance. Now, in order to expand her weaving activities, she apprentices her weaving skill by employing two learners. She has plans to create her own designs and start a weaving school in the long run.

Themneo has short-term and long-term goals to mention. In order to do her weaving full time she aims to enroll her children in a boarding school so that it will be a win-win situation for her children as well as her business. Her long-term goal is to purchase a paddy field big enough to sustain them for the whole year round.

Now she needs another loan to expand her weaving activities. Having employed two more weavers, she means to use the loan to buy yarns of different colours to weave and sell the finished products for a good price. She also will need money for buying clothing for her three children.

Additional Information

More information about this loan

This loan is part of WSDS's effort to reach some of the most underserved parts of India's troubled northeast region, where there is very poor penetration of both formal and informal financial services. By supporting this loan, you are enabling access to finance for women living in some of India's most remote areas.

Important note about this loan

Due to Indian government regulations, if you fund this loan, you will not be repaid for at least 3 years. This borrower will likely repay your loan much sooner than that, in which case, the Field Partner may re-loan your funds to help other local borrowers. We want you to be aware of this minimum 3-year waiting period and the associated risks before making a loan to Indian borrowers on Kiva. Learn More >

About WSDS-InitiateWSDS-Initiate is an inclusive nonprofit that works with women across all tribes and minority communities in Manipur, located in the remote northeast region of India. Most organizations concentrate their work in the plains region of Manipur, but WSDS is among the very few organizations serving women in the isolated hills. Political unrest and frequent economic blockades in the area make it very difficult to provide services, resulting in Manipur having the lowest penetration of financial services in the country.

This is a Group Loan

In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.

Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose.